Distributive real time information dissemination and information gathering system and service with dynamically harmonized communication channels

ABSTRACT

A computer network processor for managing information access, exchange, and interaction over a communications network has at least one input port for receiving input from the network, a first portion of memory for storing an operations framework, the framework supporting an information model including attributes and at least one communications system interface, a second portion of memory for caching information; and at least one interface to a at least one communications interface. The processor performs role-based task execution and related workflow based in part on defined attributes of the information model and in part on instruction solicited from a user through the at least one communications interface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention is a continuation-in-part to a copendingapplication Ser. No. 12/025,206, filed on Feb. 4, 2008, which claimedpriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/765,964, filed on Jan.19, 2001 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,328,233 on Feb. 5, 2008, whichclaimed priority to a U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.60/176,983, filed Jan. 19, 2000, entitled “Datasource Harmonizer”.Disclosures of all of the prior documents are incorporated herein intheir entirety at least by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is in the field of network communication includingresource sharing and notification and pertains particularly to adistributive and dynamically scalable user-centric network systemenabling communication and resource-based task performance usingcommunication channels that are dynamically harmonized for userpreference, enterprise policy, and modality.

2. Discussion of the State of the Art

In the field of network-supported information access and data sharing,there is a wide range of networked computer systems supported bysoftware that enable users and systems to access and share information.The inventors have pointed out the need for a flexible distributedinformation access and exchange system that is not specifically tied toa hard programming language or a strict structural implementation anddeployment strategy.

The inventors are aware of an information access and exchange systemsupported by a flexible information model known to the inventors as anActive Information Model (AIM), an attribute of which is a personalagent or “Active Agent” spawned on behalf of a user of the network. TheActive Information Model is a distributed information system thatincludes one or more personal information portals containing ActiveAgents. The system is deployed within an Active Information Framework(AIF) that provides for a unified architectural approach to disparatedevices, information services, and protocols. In a preferred embodiment,the system of this invention can be implemented as a configurablenetwork-based service that provides information access and exchangecapabilities to authorized users and systems defined by the users'“roles” within the related enterprises.

The system described above in the cross-reference section as U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/765,964 is also referenced herein as Salim andRossner et al. The system relies on the information model termed anActive Information Model that has various defined attributes includingroles, categories (datasources), tasks, and actions. In this systemroles are represented by personal active information agents termedActive Agents by the inventors. The system leverages a distributivearchitecture and enables access and exchange of information in a varietyof ways utilizing existing network communication infrastructures andmediums.

In various service embodiments described by Salim and Rossner et al, theActive Agents of the information model are executable components thatcooperate with one another in many instances to perform informationaccess tasks, transaction tasks, communication and notification tasks,and other functions based on a user-centric modality that may influencehow workflow is orchestrated and carried out by the system.

It has occurred to the inventors that, from the perspective of anenterprise, a networked information access and exchange system thatembodies an Active Information Model may be quickly and economicallyscaled up to meet the demands of a federated system of enterprises ormultiple independent departments of a large enterprise. Furthermore,from the standpoint of the individual user, mobile access might be morefully enabled using a variety of communications and computing devicesthrough various network or sub-network access points.

Therefore, what is further needed in the art is a system and servicethrough which one may create and practice a distributive network-basedinformation access, notification, communication, and data sharing systemusing dynamically harmonized communication and media channels. A systemsuch as this could greatly improve the efficiency and flexibility of amulti-enterprise or department service organization.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The problem stated above is that flexibility, usability, and scalabilityis desirable for an information access and exchange system, but many ofthe conventional means for providing a secure information network alsocreate obstacles to greater flexibility, usability, and scalability. Theinventors therefore considered functional elements of an informationnetwork looking for elements that exhibit less limitation and moreopportunity for ease of design, ease of deployment, ease of serviceintegration, and ease of system evolution and feature enhancement.

The functionality of every network-based information access and exchangesystem is harnessed or reined in by the limitations of programming,equipment capacities, data formatting, system compatibility to outsideservices, and available workflow capabilities. Most such informationsystems employ proprietary formats and standards that may not beinterchangeable with those of other systems, networks and resourceswithin the broad set of context that is required by the collection ofthe enterprises that serve and are served by a single individual.

The inventors realized in an inventive moment that if, from the point ofdesign and deployment, an information access and exchange system couldbe more accurately reflective of the exiting relationships between theindividuals and the enterprise, the standardized formats and protocols,could be leveraged to fulfill existing enterprise service needs in a waythat will not inhibit future expansion and feature additions and willprovide for significant efficiency related to enterprise use of thesystem. The inventors therefore constructed a unique service thatfacilitated enterprises in the development, deployment, and subsequentaccess to and use of, in some cases, information access systems tailoredto the service models and objectives of those enterprises. The resultwas that development and deployment timeframes were greatly reduced,infrastructure and equipment costs were greatly reduced, and enterprisesconducted business with much greater speed and efficiency.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the invention, a computer networkprocessor for managing information access, exchange, and interactionover a communications network is provided. The network processorincludes at least one input port for receiving input from the network, afirst portion of memory for storing an operations framework, theframework supporting an Active Information Model including attributesand at least one communications system interface, a second portion ofmemory for caching information, and at least one interface to a at leastone communications interface. The network processor is characterized inthat it performs role-based task execution and related workflow based inpart on defined attributes of the information model and in part oninstruction solicited from a user or another Active Agent or triggerevent through the at least one communications interface.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in a network-basedinformation access and exchange system, a method for aggregating data byproxy from disparate data sources and using the data aggregated in asingle presentation. The steps include (a) creating abstract definitionsof the datasource categories, (b) creating abstract definitions of rolesrepresenting users who access one or more of the datasource categories,as each category may be associated with one or more roles, (c) creatingabstract definitions of workflow, that is to say relationships betweenthe roles where an action by one role may serve as a trigger event foran action by another role, and where such action may be one where a roleserves to harmonize information that is available to it and to deliversuch information to other nodes, thereby serving as a datasource tothose nodes within the context of that specific workflow (d) through acommunication interface integrated with the information access andexchange system, invoking an action that is defined for a role havingassociations to other roles, and (e) fulfilling the process ofdelivering harmonized information at the point of the communicationinterface according to the parameters for harmonization, aggregation andpresentation.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in a network-basedinformation access and exchange system, a method is provided forharmonizing data from various datasources representing remote branchesof a company for analysis and presentations. The system includes thesteps (a) normalizing the information from various datasources (b)compiling the information which may include invoking company specificbusiness rules in selecting specific data elements that are target forpresenting within the harmonization context that is in effect, forexample based on policy or accounting rules, (c) performing the analysisand creating the appropriate reports and (d) formatting the data for theappropriate presentation format (e.g. for viewing on a presentationscreen or spreadsheet format).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment supportinga distributed information access, notification and collaboration serviceaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an architectural overview of a distributed information accessand collaboration service shared by multiple enterprises according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a networked computing appliance serving asa network point activity management node according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 400 for initiating andmanaging workflow execution according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 500 for initiating andmanaging workflow execution according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating workflow execution from multiplepoints in the network producing a useable single source of information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors provide an improved network-based information access anddelivery system that may be distributed across multiple independententerprise departments or between multiple distributed informationsystems and communications services. The improved network system will bedescribed in more enabling detail below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a network environment 100supporting a distributed information access service 101 according to anembodiment of the present invention. Network environment 100 is aconglomerate of multiple communications networks and data networks. TheInternet network 101 is illustrated in this example as a primary datanetwork over which the present invention may be practiced on a largerscale eclipsing single domains like the physical domain of a typicalenterprise with a central information store.

The primary carrier network may be some other wide-area-network otherthan the Internet like a corporate WAN, Intranet or Ethernet withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. The inventorschoose the Internet network 101 as a good example of a highly accessiblenetwork infrastructure over which many of the standardized protocolsused in practice of the invention are inherent. One with skill in theart appreciate the blending of different sub-networks and the Internetnetwork and the variety of messaging protocols and transport layers thatare supported including Universal Datagram Protocol (UDP), TransferControl Protocol over Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP) and others.

In this example, the system of the present invention will be genericallyreferred to herein as an information access system although the systemis certainly not limited to access of information. The system may alsobe used for data synchronization, collaboration and data exchangeservices, transaction initiation and fulfillment, billing and otherfinancial service tasks, service chain fulfillment, and other networksupported workflow-based business tasks such as dispatching or alternatenotification. In the application referenced in this specification as apriority document the term enterprise is used to identify any endeavorinvolving one or more individuals with one or more shared objective(s),with a specific recognition that an individual may be involved inmultiple such enterprises, therefore the present invention is notlimited to a single enterprise in terms of information or modality. Afederated system of enterprises might serve as one good example of acooperative that may use one or more versions of the system of theinvention for various objectives such as business management, serviceprovision, resource allocation, customer care, and data management.

Network environment 100 includes communications carrier network that maybe used to access the system including a wireless cellular network 104and the well-known public switched telephone network (PSTN). Likewise,the system may make contact with users and may establish communicationsessions with persons considered campaign targets in certain outboundembodiments.

An enterprise domain 102 is illustrated in this example and representsany enterprise that may utilize the service of the invention to provideservices, information access and sharing, collaboration, billing,transaction processing, and/or other important business services. It isnoted herein that only one enterprise 102 is illustrated in this examplehowever multiple enterprises may, using services of the invention,configure and adapt their own versions of the system for theirenterprise specific needs.

Enterprise 102 includes a local area network (LAN) 106 used to supportenterprise systems, and enterprise personnel performing enterpriserelated tasks. Enterprise personnel (not illustrated) may connect to LAN106 using LAN-connected computing appliances including wirelessnetwork-enabled devices. From the perspective of the enterprise, certainpersonnel and enterprise systems may perform certain tasks and haveaccess to specific data “categories” under the auspices of a defined“role”, which implies the existence of an Active Agent representing eachspecific role described with reference to Salim and Rossner et alrelative to the Active Information Model (AIM). Much informationdescribing the Active Information Model, the creation and managementthereof and core metrics that support overlying services is detailed inone or more of the co-pending patent applications.

Flexibility in both system evolution and in system access andinteraction modalities is discussed in this specification. Such featuresare at least in part enabled by ability to abstract information from onesource for presentation in a desired way over a preferred media orcommunication channel to a recipient system, Active Agent, or human. Inone embodiment, enterprise personnel associated with “roles” supportedby Active Agents, may be entirely mobile at times and may participatefully in the enterprise activities enabled by the information accesssystem of the invention from remote locations and/or disparateplatforms. Users may access services through various communicationnetworks including networks 104 and 105 or Internet 103 using theirpreferred access medium and communication devices including browsers,wired and wireless telephony devices, and personal digital assistants(PDAs).

In one embodiment of the present invention, enterprise 102 isfacilitated by service 101 in the process of “building” or “designing”an information system that is adapted specifically to enterpriserequirements in the context of a single enterprise or one thatcooperates with other enterprises and/or government regulatory agencieshaving processes and systems that also may be integrated into theinformation system. The exact configuration of services and capabilitiesof an information system for a specific enterprise depends on the natureof the business the enterprise or collaborative body engages in.

In this logical diagram, service 101 may take an active role inproviding services for one or more enterprises that have purchased orsubscribed to specific information system services offered such asenterprise 102. This concept is similar to that of a telecommunicationcompany offering telephony services to an organization to increase theexposure of the organization's services to the outside world.

Existing network architecture and services may be leveraged to provide aunique and secure multi-modal communication and data exchangeenvironment for users of information services of the invention as isillustrated logically herein. For example, Local Area Network (LAN) 106has access to Internet 103 using network services 113, which may beprovided by service 101 or by a third party service provider. Networkservices 113 may include both wired and wireless Internet accessservices using a variety of known techniques. In a preferred embodimenthigh-speed connectivity is provided to enable Internet access from anypoint on LAN 106. Ti-based services, broadband, DSL, or other servicesmay be leveraged to provide connectivity. Services may include securevirtual private network (VPN) services and the like.

Access to services may also be provided to enterprise personnel and, insome cases, automated systems through other access points in the networkenvironment. For example, remote access services 108 may be providedwithin wireless cellular network 104 to remote and mobile enterprisepersonnel. Remote access services 107 may be provided through the PublicSwitched Telephony network (PSTN network) 107 to home-based personnel.Hosted or third party Internet service providers may be leveragedthrough the PSTN network and wireless network services, either hosted orthird party may be available through wireless network 104. In thisexample, wireless cellular network 104 has access to Internet network103 through network services 1115, which may be provided by any one ofwireless Internet service providers. A media gateway (MGW) 112 isillustrated between wireless cellular network 104 and Internet 103providing format and coding translation between the networks formultimedia communications.

PSTN 105 has seamless access to Internet network 103 via a media gateway(MGW) 111, which may also include Signaling System no. 7 (SS-7) callcontrol functionality. Remote users assuming “role” responsibilitiesmay, using the existing network access and integration techniques,perform actions and tasks according to enterprise rules and may enjoyfull functionality of the system of the invention as would usersconnected to enterprise LAN 106. An important goal of the configurableinformation access service of the present invention is to enable fullymobile users to have full participation relative to their assigned taskswithin the enterprise. Remote users may have Active Agent instancesactivated through a proxy server (not illustrated) in some cases wherethe proxy functions as an Active Agent enabling full utilization of thesystem and representation of the user using virtually any type ofdevice, e.g. telephones two way radios, or personal digital assistant(PDA), capable of accessing the network.

Service 101 may host its own information system 119, which may beadapted by partition and other data segregation mechanism to facilitatemultiple clients of the service with extra storage space for enterpriseinformation. A web portal is provided within service domain 101 and isadapted to enable enterprise clients to interact with the service toobtain the tools required for building their information networks usingtheir own local equipment and data facilities as well as those hosted bythe service. Web portal 120 may also serve as an access portal for usersof configured information services. Other important system facilitiesinclude application services illustrated herein as application services125 in enterprise 102 and application services 117 hosted by service101. Depending on the nature and size of the organization, applicationdevelopment for the enterprise information system may be a distributedservice. Internal applications may be developed within enterprise 125that may interact with applications developed by service 101 forenterprise clients.

Service 101 may host data storage, backup, and archival services forenterprise clients illustrated herein by data storage services 118.Enterprise 102 may also host data storage facilities (not illustrated).Configuration services for defining how an information system willfunction for users may be provided both in service 101 and in enterprise102. Configuration files may include rules for completing workflow-basedtasks and actions. Users of the system may configure certain preferencesfor communication modalities, devices used, how information ispresented, and so on. Configuration files may also describe the ActiveInformation Model and such files may be installed both in enterprise 102and at service domain 101. Enterprise 102 includes design services 124that may be partially or wholly enabled by service 101 via generic toolsfor building system functionality and defining business rules andworkflow.

Services 121, 117, 118, 125, 124, and 122 may include one or more datastores or warehouses accessible through client/server relationship andquery process that are site-specific data stores or warehouses. Thesemay include older legacy systems within an enterprise adapted bymiddleware for integration to newer systems for harmonized informationexchange. Information system 123 may include archival systems, customerrelations management (CRM) systems, operations management systems, andso on. Some of this information may also be hosted by system 101 onbehalf of the enterprise and may be accessed through network 103 duringenterprise operations.

A client of service 101 may be a single enterprise or a group ofenterprises that cooperate to provide services. Using distributedservices enables the enterprise or multiple entities to subscribe toexisting service capabilities for their information systems and to addfunctionality and capabilities as needed. Therefore, in one embodimentof the invention, an information system takes shape throughcollaborative effort and is distributed in terms of data storage,servers, and access points. In this way flexibility in architecting afunctional information system is optimized enabling an enterprise tobegin with basic requirements and functionality, possibly within asingle department or group and then to develop additional servicemodalities and to integrate additional departments and groups, as newbusiness needs are identified.

Information systems in general provide for data abstraction fromspecific formats and presentations into a standardized format that canbe easily reformatted and presented in different ways. However, a systemthat effectively exchanges information across disparate communicationmodalities must be able to consider contextual and policy information inaddition to formatting requirements. One example of this expanded scopeare the series of issues that are addressed by a system capable ofsending or retrieving an email message using a telephone, which is asubject of another patent application by the same inventors.

Another example is where the nature of each communication modalitydetermines certain essential qualities, such as interactivity orsecurity, of the devices that are deployed in that modality. In suchcases the elements of data are dynamically adjusted for a given modalitybased on policy and user preferences and then presented appropriatelyfor that modality. If there is a reason to transfer from the activemodality, for example when a person interacting with the system using atelephone requests a to be connected to help desk, the information isdynamically reconstructed to adapt to the new modality as well asextended to include the existing context at the time of the transfer. Inthe process of adapting and extending the information the order ofpresentation may change or additional information may be included, e.g.the standing or disposition of the individual requesting transfer forthe benefit of the help desk operator) or excluded (e.g. help promptsthat are not needed by the operator).

The inventors intend in part that the logical arrangement of componentsillustrated in FIG. 1 demonstrate that it is possible using existingnetwork infrastructures, namely the Internet, connected sub-networks,PSTN, and cellular networks to support a secure, configured informationaccess system within which it is possible to “blend” media channels andcommunications channels between disparate communications devices andacross disparate communications networks using the services of thepresent invention embodied in one embodiment in a hardware appliance notillustrated in this logical example of network environment 100 butdescribed later in this specification.

Enterprise users may access their configured information networks fromwithin the enterprise or from any remote fixed or mobile locationdirecting access to both enterprise and service-hosted facilities. Forexample, users may access their information systems through a personalinformation portal such as may be provided via Web services such as webportal 120 or by proxy using a voice enabled interface such as aninteractive voice response (IVR) system. For discussion purposes voiceenabled interfaces are illustrated herein in wireless network 104 asvoice enabled interface 109; in PSTN 105 as voice enabled interface 126;and in Internet 101 as voice enabled interface 110. Users may alsoaccess their information networks through messaging services such asemail message services using post office protocol (POP) or Internetmessage access protocol (IMAP), for example. Short Message Service (SMS)and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) may also be supported. Messageservices 114 is illustrated in this example for Internet based servers(IMAP) or (POP) and wireless network based services (SMS) and (MMS).Although it is not illustrated in this example, facsimile systems mayalso be supported as both access systems and delivery systems. In termsof system access for performing workflow, all of the communicationsmediums may be utilized in a single flow that accomplishes an enterprisegoal. Blending the communication channels refers to abstractinginformation received from one channel and preparing the information forpresentation and delivery over another channel in the form of textdocuments, application-specific and industry standard formatteddocuments, video messaging, pictures and video embodied as acommunication or attached to a message may also be incorporated ininformation distribution, exchange, and access wherein personalization,template loading, and/or some blending regarding media types and mediaaccess or delivery channels may occur according to personalizationrequirements of individual users. For example, a message may bedistributed among users whereby the original format and file type of adocument attachment might be automatically converted into another filetype for one or more recipients based on enterprise policy, serviceagreements, or that user's preference.

Data in storage according to one schema may be retrieved and harmonizedfor storage of the same information in another schema wherein the datastorage facilities may be remote from one another or serve differentpurposes within the enterprise. The service of the invention leveragesan aggregate of standard mechanisms and technologies for dataabstraction and propagation in various formats and forms. In additionuser personal information portals enable personalized views upon accessto information in a way that might be specified according to theparticular role of the user and where such views may also be influencedby configured user preferences.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art of network informationsystems and component distribution that an information systemconfiguration may support multiple users of a same enterprise or usersbelonging to more than one cooperating enterprise such as in a federatedsystem. Likewise, one user may maintain a role that encompassesactivities of the user relative to more than one enterprise. One exampleof this might be an independent sales representative that works for morethan one company. Such a salesman can have access to differentcategories (datasources), sale forms for different products or services,different client bases and contacts and different workflows generic toeach of the different sales activities that might be involved.

One information access system may be created for a group of companiesserviced by the sales rep and other sales reps. Other Active Agents ofsuch a system might be in place that may represent sales managementroles, product service roles, logistical support roles, billing servicesroles and other facets involved in servicing customers of the group ofcompanies. Many such roles may be third party or otherwise externallycontracted “services” configured as part of the overall informationnetwork. An architectural view illustrating a group of enterprisesengaged in practice of the invention according to one embodiment isprovided in more detail below.

FIG. 2 is an architectural overview of a federated network 200 utilizinga distributed information access and collaboration system according toan embodiment of the present invention. Federated network 200 is definedby a specific group of enterprises illustrated herein as an enterprise204 (A), an enterprise 205 (B), an enterprise 206 (C), and an enterprise207 (D). For simplicity in description, each enterprise 204-207illustrated is identically equipped although this is not a requirementof the present invention.

Enterprise 204 (A) contains an information system 210 representing inabstract all of the information made accessible through that particularenterprise. In this example information system 210 is connected to andaccessible via an enterprise LAN 209. For the purposes of the inventionin this and other examples similar goals can be achieved if suchnetworks were a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or simply secure orcontext-specific connections over the public Internet or enterpriseIntranet. Enterprise workstations or terminals are illustrated withinenterprise 204 (A) as workstations or terminals 212 connected to LAN209. Workstations 212 represent any computerized station or systemhaving connection to LAN 209 and access to enterprise information system210.

In this embodiment, enterprise 204 (A) includes a computerized hardwareappliance 211, branded by the inventors with the descriptive termdatasource harmonizer (dsH), that embodies the service capabilities andcore functionality of the service of the invention. Appliance 211provides connectivity to information made available from externalsources such as data source categories, communications systems,messaging service, media services and Active Agents that are operatingwithin other instances of the appliance distributed throughout thenetwork hosted by the other enterprises. Appliance 211 also embodiesintegration of workflow with access and distribution of information asit relates to a single process performed on behalf of a single user.

The inventors have coined the phrase “user centric information system”to refer to an environment such as the one depicted in the networkenvironment 200 and “Active Information Model”, portions of which may beembodied within appliance 211 providing Active Agents that performfunctions on behalf of the users, defining the roles of the users withinan enterprise and the specific capabilities and task assignments forthose roles as they relate to that enterprise. In a federatedenvironment such as network environment 200, each enterprise may includean Active Information Model that represents the entire federation. Theenterprises in this case may each provide unique services to affect anoverall process or experience that is fulfilled with contributions fromany or all of the enterprises. In another embodiment, each enterprisemay be identically endowed with same or very similar Active InformationModel and may be positioned to facilitate servicing of customers (users)from any one or a combination of the enterprises based, for example, oncustomer need. An example may be where a request may be escalated todifferent enterprises (a different service context) as a customerchooses to escalate a request for service or the Active Agents workingon behalf of the customer requests a change of context for service. Asituation where such an example is realized is a case when a customerusing an IVR service requests to be transferred to a help desk or asimilar situation may occur when the Active Agent supporting thecustomer determines that the customer is having trouble and requests atransfer on behalf of the customer. In either case the help deskreceives the service context and serves as an alternate service pointthat contributes to the fulfillment of the customer's experience.

For the sake of avoiding redundancy, enterprise 205 (B) includes LAN 213supporting information system 214, computer terminals 216 and appliance215. Enterprise 206 (C) includes LAN 234 supporting information system237, computer terminals 235, and appliance 236. Enterprise 207 (D)includes a LAN 225 supporting an information system 224, computerterminals 222, and a stack of harmonizer appliances 223. In this case,enterprise 207 (D) has scaled up capacity over the other enterprises bydeploying more than on appliance 223, which has a very small footprintand is re-entrant relative to system scaling.

Each appliance has a finite processing capacity based on such parametersas number of roles or “Active Agents” the number of users and/orautomated systems performing workflow using the system framework. As anenterprise grows more appliances may be added to increase capacity.

Active Agents supported within each enterprise may have associations toother Active Agents within specific enterprises and across multipleenterprises. Information stored within systems 210, 213, 224, and 237may be visible to an Active Agent through another Active Agent that hasa defined association (relationship) with it. Therefore, the informationrelative to the entire federation is stored amongst the cooperatingenterprises in distributed fashion over the network. There are nogeographic limits to the practice of the present invention consideringthe networks leveraged to support access to and exchange of theinformation.

In this basic example, access to the overall system encompassing all ofthe enterprises is available from within any of the enterprises and fromany connected sub networks such as wireless cellular network 203 andfrom PSTN 202 as was illustrated further above in FIG. 1. PSTN 202includes a telecommunications carrier (TELCO) 217 operating a telephonyswitch 218 connected to Internet 202 via a gateway (GW) 221. A useroperating a telephone 219 may access the network via an interactivevoice response system made available through TELCO 217 or hosted by oneor more of the enterprises. The system might be accessed using aPSTN-connected fax machine 220. Telephone 219 and fax machine 220 mayalso represent customer end devices that are destination points ofnetwork workflow tasks.

From wireless network 203, users may access the system using a cellulartelephone 233 or a laptop terminal 232. A wireless service provider(WSP) 231 has connection to the system through a GW 222. Internet 202includes Web services provider 208. Web services 208 hosts a Web server(WS) 228 and a WS 229. WS 228 and 229 may be user access points or“personal information portals” (PIPs) where users can access services,make configuration changes, update preferences, retrieve personal viewsof system data, configurations, state, and so on. A lightweightdirectory access protocol (LDAP) server is provided for illustrativepurpose only in that network directory services may be used to locatedata source categories and other network resources that can be leveragedor may become available to users of the system. An email server 227 isalso illustrated and represents any messaging service.

The user-facing side of a personal information portal (PIP) for a usermight be browser-based such as with a computer terminal like terminal212, laptop 232 or cellular telephone 233 or a wired telephone 219. Apersonal digital assistant (PDA) may also contain a browser-basedcomponent used to access services. Typically speaking, a user PIPenables the user to make changes related to how information ispresented, viewed, distributed, received, etc. A typical browser-basedimplementation implies one or more interactive pages through which auser may manage certain aspects of the service.

In application, appliances like appliance 211 have network cardsenabling access to specific systems available on the network. In thisexample, the harmonizer appliances in each enterprise have directconnections to Internet network 202. This illustration is logical only.In actual practice, separate networks may be provided, for example fromappliance 211 directly to some other resource like a local database, alocal rules base, a telephony dialing server such as a Computer AssistedTelephony Interface (CATI), outbound or inbound (dial-in) IVR server, orother like component systems. The appliance (211) runs an applicationframework termed an “active information framework” by the inventors. Thefunctionality of the harmonizer appliances is at least in partdetermined by the nature of the deployed information access system. Forexample, it might be that email and telephony are the only two mediachannel options for a user. In some systems data access, formpopulation, form presentation and reporting are the major functions ofthe Active Agents. In still other systems notification of customers orother system agents is the primary function. There are many varianttypes of systems that can be utilized. Most can be multi-faceted usingthe core Active Information Model to define roles, categories,relations, and associations between roles, and workflow related tasks tobe performed.

User of the service of the invention may practice the inventionaccording to their specific implementations once they are installed andtested. In a system shared by multiple entities, new functionality maybe created with respect to the Active Information Model of one of theentities without need to update the core systems of all of the otherentities unless there is a required association between roles of two ormore of the entities. In this case, the deployment of the new roleattributes may be handled through distribution of configuration filesthat contain the required attribute definitions, relationships, andworkflow additions if any. In this way, an Active Information Model maycontinue to evolve and yet still function as a complete model.

Multiple data sources may be accessed from a single point in thenetwork, for example, to populate a single form that then may be faxed,emailed, posted, or otherwise shared over the network with one or moredefined recipients. In such an example, an Active Agent may be assignedto get a form, populate the form with the required data and then sendthe form to a recipient. An example of this might be that of a salescontract for example. An Active Agent performing this task may haverequired associations to other Active Agents that must also perform someof the task according to the workflow. The Active Agent may be triggeredby another Active Agent command or request, or by some defined eventsuch as an email, a voice response during a telephone interaction, oreven a state event trigger such as maturation of an account or sometime-based constraint placed against data held in a data source.

An information and exchange system built with tools supplied by theservice of the invention may have automated workflow and tasks thatinvolve manual workflow. An example of this might be in a salesautomation environment a manual task for reviewing and signing acontract might be required before the signed contract is sent to arecipient. Moreover some other tasks might involve more traditionalchannels like regular express mailings, money deposits by wire, notaryservices, or other required certification processes performed by thirdparty services or government agencies. Such tasks may be included inworkflow of the system and may be triggered as well as automated tasksperformed by systems. The abstraction level of the Active InformationModel allows an enterprise or a group of enterprises to constructinformation and exchange service that is exactly tailored to theirbusiness goals.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a networked computing appliance 300 servingas an Active Agent management node according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. Appliance 300 is analogous to appliances 211, 215,223, and 236 illustrated above in FIG. 2. In this example, appliance 300is accessible to users of the service of the invention through a hostedserver environment and the appliance itself may be configured as anapplication server (APP/SV). Access to appliance 300 may be achievedthrough a Web interface hosted in the server or in a proxy applianceconnected to the server. Wireless application protocols (WAP) may beenabled for server access from cellular and other light wirelessdevices.

In one embodiment, a mobile member 315 (a users) of the service mayaccess device 300 through a voice enabled interface 314 such as an IVRsystem supported by a served voice application. Voice recognition may besupported as well as touch-tone interaction for options selection.Appliance 300 includes a plurality of service components hosed withinprocessor elements to enhance its expandability while preserving aturnkey and physically portable package for situations where such apackage is appropriate.

As described further above, appliance 300 has a small footprint and afinite capacity in terms of memory, processor capacity, and connectionload capacity. Therefore appliance 300 includes a load balance fail oversystem (LB/FS) 309 that may automatically activate during overloadconditions to pass workload to another connected appliance. Proactiveworkload management techniques may be implemented for load balancing ofworkload between two or more appliances connected together.

One possible deployment of appliance 300 in a single node configurationmay be a dedicated practice management or CRM system. Another deploymentmay be in a node in a multiply connected communication network for asecurity detail. In such a situation the Active Information Model withineach node is the operative security scenario and within the context ofthis model the information exchange is managed and the input stimuli isprocessed.

On the front end, trigger events, for example from attached devices orActive Agents from this or other appliances, or inputs from authorizedsystem users are processed against policies that are defined within theActive Information Model. The appliance spawns instances of Active Agentbased on roles that include the tasks and workflow requirements astrigger events are posted. Appliance 300 is essentially a proxy commandcenter supported by the active information framework within whichsupport for the Active Information Model and interface capabilities toother appliance 300 or external systems are provided. Appliance 300 thenserves as a proxy in many instances between a requesting system or userand services.

Appliance 300 is configurable and reconfigurable through plug-in typeinstallation of computerized card devices 302, which may include systeminterfaces and information support devices. One such device is LB/FScard 309, which is configured to perform load balancing and failoverservices in the event too much load is placed on the appliance.Appliance 300 includes at least one card device for specifying at leastone Active Information Model (AIM) 312 of an enterprise and the activeinformation framework (AIF).

AIF supports all of the basic functions for appliance 300, however newextensions to the AIF functions to support additional services can beadded to the appliance by providing the new components on an informationdevice plugged into the appliance. In general, an AIF supported databaseaccess (DBA) interface 308 is provided for finding and getting data fromlocal data sources. In one embodiment, external data source interfacesmay be supported for data access over the prevailing network. DBAinterface 308 may also support movement of data between data sources(data migration), data caching, and data source updating.

An AIF supported document management interface (DMI) 307 is provided formanaging variant document formatting and form population and reportgeneration tasks. Interface device 307 may enable the appliance toretrieve a specified form or document template to be populated withdata. DMI 307 may cooperate with DBA 308 in form population orpopulation of document templates. An AIF supported file service andelectronic messaging (FS/MSG) interface 310 is provided to enable accessto hosted or third-party electronic message services and file sharing orretrieval services. Access to email services, SMS services and MMSservices may be supported. Policy can dictate that the messagepresentation and content that is delivered to each individual is basedon their role or other attributes such as security clearance, number oftimes they have accessed the system, etc. Appliance 300 includes an AIFsupported Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) interface to one or moreCTI-enabled telephony servers, devices or switches. CTI interface 306allows the system to perform outbound calling and notification taskssuch as calling personnel to confirm appointments or to confirm serviceperson availability for pending job requirements. Notifications mayinclude emergency alerts, notice of tickets for sale, and other types ofnotifications that might be sent out to a target list of customers or apre-selected list of personnel. In such cases the Active InformationModel serves according to enterprise policies as well as individualconsiderations, for example in order to determine if a person iseligible to be contacted at a specific moment.

Appliance 300 includes an AIF supported interface 311 to CustomerRelations Management (CRM) and or Sales Force Application (SFA) systems.CRM/SFA interface 311 allows access to these systems for the purpose ofperforming follow-up requests and tasks related to sales and customerrelations management. Appliance 300 includes an AIF supported interface313 to Fax messaging (FAX/MSG) services. These services may includeE-Fax service and traditional telephone-based Fax services. Appliance300 also includes an AIF supported interface 305 to Voice Over InternetProtocol (VoIP) services.

Appliance 300 may include miscellaneous ports 304 and 303 for connectingperipheral devices or for chaining multiple appliances together or thelike. Reset, power on, power off, and other features such as slot orbank disable switches and the like may be provided. In this example LAN313 supports appliance 300 and voice enabled interface 314 may interactwith appliance 300. Voice enabled interface 314 facilitates systemaccess for mobile member 315 in one example.

It is noted herein that the AIF may have instances thereof created forother devices that may be made accessible for installation to thosedevices such as downloaded installable files, browser plug-ins,standalone desktop application, or server based interface. Appliance 300may be provided with more or fewer slots for docking service cards andmore or fewer features than those described herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, anotification system might only require interfaces to telephone andmessaging service in addition to DBA services.

In practice of the present invention an authorized user of the systemsuch as mobile member 315 may use a telephone or another telephonydevice to interact with voice-enabled interface 314, which has a serviceapplication running on it. The mobile member may be authenticated bydevice 300 before any interaction is possible. Appliance 300 spawns aninstance of an Active Agent representing the role and tasks that are atleast part of the duties of member 315.

The features of the appliance may be activated by users based on therole of the user. If a user does not have access to CRM/SFA data, thenthat feature is not visible to that user. User authentication may bedistributed to third party systems through which access to aninformation system is attempted. In a client/server environment, securesocket layer (SSL) and other encryption methods can be implemented.Enterprise firewall systems may also be installed in front of theappliance.

Individual users may personalize how they view the system and how thesystem interacts with their connected devices and applications. Forexample, a user might configure a map button on a PDA device as atrigger to tell the system to get directions to the next appointment orjob site. A user may set preferences relative to email such as forcertain expected emails from identified addresses or an identified groupor category, deliver the content by telephone to a specified cellularnumber. A user may finish a transaction on one device that was initiatedfrom another device without having to start over. A user may call intothe system and use a voice application to select a customer form and thesystem may populate the form with the relevant known data while the usercan add new data by voice for inclusion into one or more fields of theform.

Many varied types of information systems can be supported by appliance300 including customer notification systems, automated survey systems,parts and service fulfillment systems, collaboration systems for largeprojects involving multiple enterprises and project stages, and otherconceivable systems. System development is much accelerated and systemflexibility, scalability, and evolution abilities are much improved. Thelevel of personalization a user may have with the system depends in parton rules governing the role that the user has with the enterprise and inpart of the user's preferences and access device parameters. Blendedcommunications may be configured in many different ways for differingsystems.

The inventors have developed several different types of informationaccess and exchange systems for different clients. Some systems arecomplex interaction and collaboration systems while others are verysimple event triggered notification systems. The appliance of theinvention can be used to enable user-centric control of how the systemperforms tasks and how the system may be viewed from the perspective ofthe user.

Appliance 300 embodies personal information agents or Active Agents foractive roles in the system. A user then may have a role that is verydiverse from that of another user using the same appliance. A saleexecutive, for example, may have multiple personal services registeredand configured for access by appliance 300 in such ways that theexecutive can have workflow performed automatically while indisposed orwhile busy traveling. Personal information services like calendars,travel services, financial information services, social networkingservices, and others may be part of the overall flow and flexibility ofwhat the Active Agent for that executive can be made to do. It may makecalls, send messages, set appointments, make payments, arrange forpurchase of tickets for travel or entertainment events, reserve a tableat a restaurant, fill out a form, and other tasks that might beconceived and defined as sets of workflow.

FIG. 4 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 400 for initiating andmanaging workflow execution according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The system of the invention can perform tasks and executeworkflows as previously described. This may occur based on some triggerevent received or perceived by an Active Agent associated with a user.At step 401 a trigger event is received or perceived by the system. Thesystem is, in this case, analogous to appliance 300 described furtherabove.

At step 402, the system determines if based on the trigger event, it isto initiate a task or action. If not, the process may resolve back tothe beginning at step 401 for a next trigger event. In this embodiment,the trigger event may be an anticipated message that identifies arecipient like an email message for example. The event may be predefinedin an Active Agent preference configuration like any incoming email froma specific address that registers at an inbox.

In other cases or other instances of the system, a trigger event may bea telephone call, a notification of a state, a mark of time, or someother perceived or received trigger. Within the context of the protocoldescribed in 403, 304, 405, 406, and 417 a “member” is analogous to a“user” as defined in the context of an Active Information Model. Theexact nature of the trigger event may depend on the system type andconfiguration parameters describing the role and event type. In thiscase a member has pre-configured one or more instances of attemptedcontact as a trigger event.

To illustrate an example, assume that the trigger event is an emailmessage received from a customer that is included in a special list ofemail addresses of customers that are important to a salesman enoughthat the salesman has directed the system to alert the salesman if anyon the list send an email to him. By virtue of the message destinationaddress the specific user in the Active Information Model (the member)is identified and the system already knows who the member is that is therecipient of the email. An Active Agent for that user (member) isspawned based on receipt of the trigger event, which identifies the user(member).

At step 402 if the system determines a task or action is to be performedbased on the trigger event, at step 403, the member is located byperforming a table lookup to determine, perhaps itinerary, physicallocation, mobile state, device state, device number and so on. Apresence information server may be accessed in some cases to determinelocation of the member. An updated database may report that the memberis on the road to a sales seminar and will only be available via cellnumber. The member has pre-configured this data into the system and thedata is date and time sensitive such as information on a calendar ofappointments. Therefore, the system may locate the member based in parton pre-configured data and in part using a presence information protocolto report, for example, if the member's cell phone is accepting calls.

At step 404, assuming that the member is answering calls at a specificcell phone number, the system initiates a call to the member's cellnumber. If the number is busy or the phone is not taking calls, then thesystem may look for other devices and communication channels over whichthe member might be contacted or alerted of the trigger event.

In this example, at step 404, the system calls the member on thecellular telephone. At step 405, the system communicates the event tothe member. In this case text-to-voice may be used to prepare asynthetically recorded telephone audio message informing the member ofthe newly arrived email and reading the contents of the email over anestablished voice connection to the member.

Communicating the event to the member at step 405 may well entail avoice rendering of the email made by an automated outbound contactsystem. The interaction may continue at step 406 where the voice systemmay prompt the member for direction. A task or workflow execution isbased entirely on the direction given by the member at step 406 andensues accordingly at step 407. The task or workflow to be performed isalready defined by the “role” of the member contacted at step 404.Database icons are associated with steps where data access is presumed.

A task performed at step 407 may be a simple task like get form. Also atstep 407, the system may populate the form. The form may be a templatefor a written agreement or contract selected by the member from voiceprompting and the system may automatically populate the form with asmuch information as is already known about the customer. The member mayalso offer voice input for population to the form through the voiceinterface using the cell phone assuming voice recognition capabilitiesare present at the interface. During the voice interaction, the systemhas prompted the member, possibly with all of the task and workflowitems to solicit from the member which item to initiate. At step 408, itis determined whether there are any other roles that are associated withthe member role that the member has involved through configuration orthat the enterprise Active Information Model has defined associationsfor.

For example, assuming a written agreement, perhaps an attorney mustreview and approve the agreement. Perhaps another department has to addsome information to the form before or after review. Therefore at step408, the system determines if any other roles will be involved in theworkflow required to complete the task at hand. If no other roles areidentified as requiring some involvement in the process at step 408, thesystem determines if there will be a response prepared and sent to thecontact at step 411.

If determined at step 411 that no response will be sent to the contactthat sent the email received in step 401, then the process skips to step413 where the system records or otherwise documents and reports theactivity to an appropriate entity like a sales force management systemfor example. At step 414, the system determines if a confirmation of anykind of the completed activity is to be sent back to the member. If thesystem determines that no confirmation is ordered then the process mayend for that trigger at step 415.

If determined at step 411 that a response is to be sent back to thecontact, then the response is prepared and executed at step 412. Aresponse may be prepared on behalf of the active member such as an emailconfirmation of the agreement sent back to the contact. The processmoves then to step 413, 414, and if a confirmation is not required, tostep 415 where the process ends for that trigger.

If at step 414, a confirmation is required or requested by the memberonce tasks have been completed by the system, the appropriateconfirmation is prepared or selected by the system at step 416. Aconfirmation of a service performed might be an email confirmation, anSMS confirmation, or a telephone confirmation. In one embodiment,default confirmation audio is provided and may be selected according tothe task that was completed. At step 417, the status is communicatedback to the member. If the task is completed before the member hangs upthe telephone, the confirmation may be selected from a set ofprerecorded confirmation messages and played to the member through thevoice interface. The process may end at step 418 in this case after theconfirmation is successfully communicated to the member.

If at step 408, other roles have to participate in the fulfillment ofthe specified task, at step 409 those roles or “agents” that will beinvolved are notified. Other roles may include those external to thehost appliance facilitating an Active Agent for the role of the member.In step 409, the roles or “agents” may be notified via email, telephone,SMS, instant messaging (IM), fax, or other means.

At step 410, the notified agents fulfill their parts of the workflowexecution requirements. This step may repeat several times. Workflow maybe distributed among multiple Active Agent instances. The process thenmoves back to step 411 where the system determines if a response will besent to the contact. If the system determines that a response must besent to the contact, then the response is prepared and executed in step412. The response might be a reply email sent to the contact. Theresponse might also be a telephone call, an SMS, or some other type ofcommunication. In one embodiment, a response to the contact may be amailing of a contract agreement whereby the contact must receive it,sign it, notarize it and fax it back to the member who may be alertedagain by the system when the fax arrives.

The process may move on to step 413 for recording, documentation andreporting of activities, and back to step 414 where the process branchesaccording to whether a confirmation of task performance is required bythe member. If yes at step 414, the system prepares a confirmation atstep 416 and communicates the status to the member at step 417. Theprocess then ends for that trigger at step 418. If no at step 414, theprocess ends at step 415 for that trigger.

Process 400 is exemplary of one of many possible scenarios of systemuser interaction. In this case an Active Agent representing the role ofthe member is instantiated because of the trigger email received. Thecontent of the email is parsed, translated to voice and verbalized assynthetic voice to the member via a voice interface system that calledthe member according to planned workflow.

In this case, workflow is integrated with communications services basedon a conditional state. The member verbally selects or directs thetask(s) for the system but does so based on the content of the email andthe fact that the only device the member needs to communicate with is atelephone.

FIG. 5 is a process flow chart illustrating steps 500 for initiating andmanaging workflow execution according to another embodiment of thepresent invention. Process steps 500 illustrate how a remote member(i.e. a user within the Active Information Model) can access the systemand cause task performance using a voice interface. In this example, amember calls the system at step 501 from the field or from a mobilelocation. Perhaps the member is a construction site manager responsiblefor ordering materials and other related tasks. A role “constructionsite manager” would be predefined as a role in the construction firm.

At step 502, the system answers the call. In this step the call is to avoice interface such as an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Atstep 503, the system analogous to appliance 300 described further aboveauthenticates the caller as a member of the information system dataaccess and exchange service. Authentication may require a lookup in adatabase based on personal identification number (PIN), password, orsome other authentication the voice system can recognize.

At step 504, the system prompts the member as to intent or reason forthe call. There might be an options menu verbalized to the member by theIVR system wherein the member may select what the task performanceoption or options will be performed by an Active Agent or role of theuser. In one case, the member may simply state the reason and it will berecognized by the system. After the system has recognized the reason forthe call, it may repeat it for confirmation by the member at step 505.The reason might be abstract such as “Order Materials”. The system cantake action upon such abstract request because the Active InformationModel can establish user context (role an workflow).

At step 506, the system may ask the user if “Order Materials” is correctfor confirmation and then may verbalize the material choices until themember says (or indicates using DTMF input) yes to one of them. At step507, the system may confirm the more granular task of ordering specificmaterials. The system may also provide selection of the proper forms forordering materials and may solicit the quantities of each materialordered. Confirmation steps are common with voice-enabled interfaces tomitigate non-recognition however the nature of the AIM facilitatesadditional scope in validation such as potential preference and policylevel actions to handle exception. Examples of such extended scopes areautomatic help (e.g. if unable to validate input bridge to help desk) orintelligent security handling (e.g. upon detecting a breech continue afake session while initiating a trace).

At step 508, the Active Agent representing the member role is spawnedand begins the appropriate task or workflow execution. The system maydetermine if additional roles are required in order to complete theuser-centric process at step 509. If the system determines at step 509that no other roles are required to complete the task or workflowexecution, then the system may prepare and execute a response to themember at step 510. Preparing and executing a response to a member mayinvolve many different communications options. However, the responsecontains a complete confirmation of the ordered task performance. Atstep 511 the system may be ready to record, document, and reportactivities.

At step 512, the system makes a determination whether there are anyfollow up tasks to perform after the main task has been completed andconfirmed. If at step 512 there are no follow up tasks to perform thenthe process may end at step 513. If there are follow up tasks toperform, the system determines if other roles will be involved at step514. If at step 514, no other roles will be involved, then at step 517the ordered or requested tasks or workflow is performed.

After step 517, the process moves back to step 511 for recording,documenting, and reporting. The system may make a determination if theremight be any follow up tasks to perform for users. If at step 512, thereare no additional tasks to perform, the process may end for thattelephone call. At step 512, if the system determines that there arefollow up tasks to perform, then at step 514 the system may determine ifthe follow up task(s) require the participation of other roles. If noother roles are required at step 514, the process moves to step 517 fortask or workflow execution. A follow up task related to constructionsite material ordering might be setting a future reminder to checkprogress on material delivery.

The process loops at this point back to steps 511 and 512 until thereare no more tasks to be performed and the process can end at step 513.If at steps 509 or 514 the system determines that other roles arerequired to complete task or workflow performance then the process movesto step 515 wherein the roles or agents required are alerted. In thisway one Active Agent may request action from another Active Agent it hasrelation to or association with. The Active Information Model includesthe roles and their task performance and workflow requirements as wellas the static and conditional relationships between the roles. Aconstruction site management role may be associated with the roledefined for the architect if the construction company builds new customhomes, for example. The architect may have to review the material orderbefore it can go out and may also be able to change the order. Anotherrole that might be loosely associated with the architect and theconstruction site manager may be the client. There are manypossibilities.

Process steps 500 represent one example of interaction and workflowblending that can be accomplished by a call in to the system from aremote location. There are many other interactions and workflowprocesses that may be accomplished some of which may depend on thesystem design and capabilities. For example, a file upload from thefield may trigger a process including workflow or task performance. Anemail from a member in the field, or a process order form, or some othertype of input may also be considered a trigger event in some cases. Theability to perform tasks and actions on behalf of a system user using anautomated or semi-automated representation of the user that embodies the“role” of the user eliminates much work and time delay for theenterprise considering the accumulative effect of hours spent manuallyperforming tasks and managing business processes where participation isrequired of the user beyond a simple interaction. Many unique processesbecome evident considering the many different system environments thatmay be implemented and conceived some of which have been described.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating multi-entity cooperation inworkflow execution to produce a single aggregation of informationaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. An informationaccess and exchange network 600 is illustrated in this example andincludes multiple associated Active Agents or “roles” working within ahealthcare system. An industry like long-term health care includes manyindependent enterprises and internal departments within an enterprisewhere cooperation among those entities is required in order for acustomer's long term needs to be met adequately. Furthermore somedepartments may be externally regulated or have requirements that aredictated by various payers but depend on the specifics of the patient'scondition as well as the prescribed treatment. The service of theinvention enables an enterprise with multiple independent departments ora group of independent businesses to form an information access andexchange system using the Active Information Model.

In this example, a primary care facility 601 like a doctor's office forexample is triggered by some event to generate a current patient historydocument that may be faxed over to some other facility or office thatrequires the information in order to continue servicing the patientwithout significant interruption or delay. The patient in question haspatronized the health care services of all of the other roles active inthe system, which in this case is designed to accommodate multipleentities or departments.

A medical imaging service business 602 is an enterprise within theinformation system and has an Active Information Model including rolesthat represent practitioners in that business. A medical insuranceprovider facility 603 is an enterprise within the information system andhas an Active Information Model including roles that representpractitioners in that business. A cardiac care facility 604 is anenterprise within the information system and has an Active InformationModel including roles representative of practitioners in that business.A pharmacy 605 is an enterprise within the information and exchangesystem and has an Active Information Model including roles thatrepresent practitioners in that business.

Each entity 601 through 605 performs some viable service for the patientand information, data, and history relative to the patient from each ofthese entities is vitally important in the view of the overall healthmanagement of the patient. Therefore, in order to effect smooth andseamless cooperation among these disparate entities, certain roleswithin each of the entities have defined association and relationship toother roles within the Active Information Model. Each entity 601 through605 keeps patient records, files, and history that is available throughsome computerized system including a data storage or database facility.In this case, each entity includes a database server and persistentstorage. The primary care facility 601 has a role 610 which mayrepresent the primary doctor of the patient, for example. The imagingbusiness 602 includes a role 606 which may represent the patient'sprimary doctor of radiology. The pharmacy 605 includes a role, which maybe the patient's pharmacist. The cardiac care facility 604 includes arole, which may be the patient's primary heart doctor. The insuranceprovider 603 includes a role, which may represent an authorizedinsurance representative for the patient.

In practice, the patient may have developed some condition that requiresimmediate attention and a full view of the patient's data compiled overa period of time. One way to provide all of the patient's information isto store that data in some central facility accessible to all of theentities (roles) involved in caring for the patient. In this example,however, the patient's data is distributed among several different datastorage facilities maintained independently at each of the facilities.

The role of the primary physician in this example is to refer thepatient to another facility (not illustrated) and to make sure that afull view of the patient's information from the primary facility andfrom the other illustrated facilities is prepared and sent to the newrecipient. The new recipient may be a doctor or team of doctors thatwill offer a second opinion for the patient, for example. The newrecipient might be a pulmonologist referred because of a lungabnormality discovered by the doctor that is serious enough to warrantthe referral. Template 611 contains data fields that can be populatedautomatically with the most recent and relevant data. A pre-defined taskspecifying a specific workflow is defined under the role of the primarydoctor.

In a scenario, assume that the doctor reviewing the patient's latestphysical discovered a problem which led to a referral situation and thatthe nature of the problem required specific data categories included onthe fax summary template form. But the doctor had to leave immediatelyto catch a plane for a seminar and could not spend the time to instructany other support personnel in the matter.

The primary doctor could telephone the information system using aprovided number, authenticate to the system and thus activate his rolewithin the Active Information Model of the primary facility. Duringinteraction the doctor might state or select the problem and may selectthe fax form and state the required data categorize to be included onthe form.

In this example, the form includes category (a) patient identificationincluding social security number, address, contact, spousal information,and any powers of attorney holders. Category (b) is the patient'smedical imaging history available in the files of business 602. Category(c) is the patient's medication history available in the files of thepharmacy. Category (d) is the patient's cardiac care history availablein the files of business 604. Category (e) is the patient's insurancehistory and associated financial data.

Using the pre-defined relationships between role 610 and the other rolesgeneric to the other entities, the Active Agent representing the primarydoctor can get the template and can retrieve the required data from thedata systems of the other entities through the network interface usingquery response protocols. The data harmonizer appliance 612 ispositioned on the network of the information system and the Active Agentrepresenting the primary doctor can “see” the required informationthrough its relationship with the other roles. The workflow involvesgetting the form, querying the other roles and ordering the dataaggregation from the distributed data storage facilities to persistentor temporary data storage within facility 601.

Data harmonizer 612 analogous to appliance 300 described further abovecan then populate the appropriate categories on the form with theaggregated data and through a personal contact record service canacquire the correct fax number information for the fax send operation.Using an interface to a telephony-based Fax machine or to an E-faxservice the appliance 612 can print to fax or electronically fax theform to the intended recipient. The exact workflow may in part beselected by the doctor interacting with the system via cellulartelephone interacting with a voice application through a voice-enabledinterface.

With respect to data harmonizer 612, site specific data stored indisparate formats distributed throughout the information systemgeography can be harmonized to present a unified view where all of thedata aggregated from the separate sources can viewed in a desiredformat. Data retrieved from a site specific data source is abstracted toremove the generic formats so that all of the data may be re-presentedin a desired format compatible with any supported format that may berequired of a viewing system or platform.

Data harmonizing occurs on the fly when data is retrieved and compiledfor use in reporting, presentation, or for central site storage. Reverseformatting is also supported by the framework so data updates ordered tosite-specific data stores can be deposited in the format required by thesite specific data store.

A follow up task might be to ensure that all of the appropriate hardfiles needed like actual CT scans, X-rays, and other supporting imagesor conclusive reports required by the recipient in hardcopies be mailedvia express mail. This follow up task may be reported and established asa trigger at each of the other facilities where the hard files reside.

A confirmation email SMS or telephone call may be made to the doctor bythe system to confirm that the requirements and the task was performedand that notification or confirmation may include an opportunity for thedoctor to schedule a follow up visit. The recipient may be a part of theinformation system or not. If the recipient facility begins to do a lotof collaboration with one or more of the other facilities then it may bebrought into the information system allowing the system to grow withrespect to participant member facilities. Likewise facilities that nolonger collaborate with certain other facilities may update their ActiveInformation Model accordingly by redefining roles, tearing down old roleassociations and creating new associations.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that the informationaccess and exchange service and system of the invention may be providedusing some or all of the mentioned features and components withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It willalso be apparent to the skilled artisan that the embodiments describedabove are specific examples of a single broader invention, which mayhave greater scope than any of the singular descriptions taught. Theremay be many alterations made in the descriptions without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A distributed information and task managementsystem comprising: a plurality of enterprises or departments servers,each enterprise or department comprising one or more computerizedappliances having processors executing software from a non-transitorymedium, at least one physical data repository, and optionally one ormore connections to wired and/or wireless telephone systems; aharmonizer appliance assigned to each enterprise or department; anexternal network connecting each harmonizer appliance assigned to eachenterprise or department, such that communication and data exchangebetween users, enterprises or departments passes through and is managedby the harmonizer appliances; one or more servers connected to theexternal network, providing services to the plurality of enterprises ordepartments; a configurable active information model (AIM) unique to,and stored at or accessible to each harmonizer appliance, the AIMdefining at least trigger events, user roles, and executable activeagents associated uniquely with the user roles, for the enterprise ordepartment, and to some extent modeling details of the overalldistributed information and task management system, wherein a triggerevent defined in the AIM and identified by a harmonizer appliance uniqueto a specific enterprise or department, received either from within theenterprise or department or over the external network connecting theharmonizer appliances, triggers the harmonizer appliance to identify auser and the user's role, to spawn the appropriate active agentassociated with the user role, and to manage workflow through executionof the active agent to accomplish a purpose of the user; and aninterface on the external network allowing access to remoteparticipants, wherein remote participants access the distributedinformation system, each having an assigned role and associated activeagent defined in the AIM of one of the harmonizer appliances, the activeagent providing full utilization of the distributed information systemincluding representation of the participants communicating on thenetwork with remote devices including at least telephones, wirelessdevices, or personal digital assistant (PDA), wherein the active agentsare dedicated to one or more enterprise participants with roles based ongeographical assignment in the enterprise.
 2. The system of claim 1wherein the remote participants are mobile and access the network byproxy through a server for interacting with the communication networkvia the remote devices.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the enterprisesare part of a federated network.